Rearranging my room

One of my best friends, Becky, lived in the dorm building, Gannon, which is pretty close to my building, Olympia Avenue. When we signed up for housing, Becky put Olympia as her first choice, but she didn't get in. The entire semester we both just though of how convenient it would have been if she lived in Olympia, since we wouldn't have to go out in the cold to see each other. Sometime around the end of October, when we log on to our online myWSU account, we see these notices telling the campus that there are spots available in Olympia if you want to move in. Of course this gets becky and me very excited, so she asks her mom only to get a very quick and final response of "No". Olympia is more expensive than Gannon and moving all her stuff up would be a hassle. So we drop it.

Becky has been having issues living with her roommate lately and decides that whether it's olympia or not, she needs to relocate. Personally I love her roommate, and Becky likes her too, but living with her is difficult for becky, since their living styles and sleep schedules were way different. So during thanksgiving she talked to her mother about moving into Olympia or somewhere else, and her mom says she can move to Olympia ONLY if it's the last resort.

After we return to Pullman from break, Becky finds out that there is a waiting list to get into Olympia, she decides she might as well add herself to that list. After a few days Becky finds out there is most certainly room for her if she wants to move into Olympia. She emails her mom back, simply saying that there is room, and without any fight or hesitation her mother simply says "go for it". Next thing we know last friday Becky, her friend Austin, Janie (her now old roommate) and I are all helping her move into Olympia. Becky has a new roommate, who she gets along great with and she was able to move into one of the rooms that has a private bathroom, just like mine. Needless to say the past few days having Becky here has been incredible and has me loving dorm life. It really does make a difference when you have friends in your dorm. Before, the only thing I liked about my dorm was my room and my bathroom. Now that I am starting to really make friends here and now that my best friend is here, I absolutely love living here.

As we were arranging becky's new room, it inspired me to rearrange my own. About two months ago, I bunked my bed and said that most certainly wouldn't be rearranging my room again. False. I loved Becky's set up so much that I had to do it myself. Actually I was the one who came up with Becky's set up to begin with, so I'm not really copying anyone but myself. Anyway, my bed is no longer bunked, which makes getting in and out of it, much easier now, and my desk is pushed up against the wall by the window, so I now have a view while I'm working or playing on my computer. I'll take some photos later but for now I decided just to talk about it.

Yesterday it snowed, and for the first time in years, I was happy about it. It didn't snow like crazy, just enough to turn the campus into a beautiful winter wonderland. I took a photo, but it doesn't look beautiful at all, so I won't be sharing it.

I think I was an explorer in my past life, because recently I've been playing a lot with Google Earth. Now, most of you guys remember my past obsession with maps and atlases, well it's no longer an obsession but I still do enjoy browsing them. I guess I'm more interested in tools such as Google Earth where I can zoom in and see satellite images of the places I'm looking at. But recently I've been on Google Earth way more than usual, just looking for really strange and remote places that maybe most people haven't ever heard of. I just have the biggest desire to go as far North as I can. I want to visit all the remote villages in northern Canada, Alaska, and Greenland. I want to visit Russia, and go to the east coast and see the big cities there that nobody ever talks about such as, Vladivostok. Have you ever heard of that rather large city? I hadn't until just recently. I'm sure it's not the most fun tourist destination, but I just have such a fascination with so many random places, Russia being the one I'm most curious about.

I just hope and pray that when I'm older I'll have the opportunity to travel. I've been saying for a while, that of course I hope I am rich when I'm older, but honestly, the only reason I want money is so I can travel and see this amazing planet. If there were a way where I didn't have to be paid much but I could still travel, I'd be fine. Of course I want a big house and a lexus, but I could live without those things as long as I can see the world!

I think I got my travel bone from Grandma and Grandpa, you guys have been every where and I hope I can do the same in my life! Anywho, I've got a paper to write today, (it's not due until FRIDAY but I'm being a good student and starting today! It's about the cold war, ugh.)

It's been a while

I'm not sure I have anything major to talk about, but I figured I should probably update this anyway. I've been working much harder at school and it's paying off. I feel as though next semester will be much better academically for me since I know what to expect. Senior year I got accustomed to putting in minimal effort and getting away with it. My problem was that coming into my freshman year here at WSU, I kept putting in that minimal effort and this time I did NOT get away with it. I've managed to get my grades up considerably, and feel I've had to work extra hard in order to do so. I'm taking advantage of all kinds of extra credit opportunities out of necessity, which is new to me. I've learned that I am the most productive during the morning, and during my days off (tuesdays and thursdays), when I could sleep in, I wake up around 8:30 and start working on whatever needs to be done for the next day. I accomplish so much and I'm glad that next semester, while I won't have those days off again, I won't have class until 12:30, so I'll still have time to get work done.

Currently, I'm looking at apartments again, and trying to make my final decision as to which ones I want to live in next year. It all boils down to two choices: Churchill Downs and Maple Valley. I'll break it down by apartment.

Churchill Downs:

Pros-

-Closest to campus (compared to maple valley)

-Newest of all DABCO owned properties

-Closer proximity to more friends and amenities (which ties in with my first Pro)

-Nice interiors

Cons-

-The bus stop is the last stop after the bus goes all throughout what is known as "apartment-land", meaning if I take the bus in the morning to get to class, chances are I wont get a seat and will have to stand.

-More expensive (although only by 20 bucks monthly)

Maple Valley

Pros-

-Cheaper

-Right by the first bus stop before the bus hits all the apartments in the area (meaning better choice of seating in the morning on my way to class)

-Quieter (or so I've been told)

Cons-

-Much farther from campus and amenities. I'll have my car, but as far as the social aspect goes, I imagine most of my friends will live closer to campus which means some people may not want to come all the way out to maple valley to visit.

After viewing what I just wrote, I'm thinking I may be learning more towards Churchill Downs. For me the location is everything, and I just don't really like the maple valley location. But I still have a few more weeks before I need to make my decision. Any input from you guys would be greatly appreciated.